"Jesus Molly, I don't mean to be harsh or anything but you look like crap. Have you actually been home?" Jess greeted her as she walked up to the nurses station ready to start the fourth night shift in a row.
"Yeah, just slept like crap thats all." Molly shrugged.
She wasn't about to go into detail of the nightmares that had been haunting her ever since she'd returned from Kenya with her new work colleagues. She'd been working in the A&E department at the Bath hospital for the last two weeks. It wasn't that she'd had any real desire to be there in particular, rather they'd been the first people to actually get back to her, and her desperation to get away from her Father and actually have something to focus on- other than those horrific memories of Kenya that had come back to haunt her- had driven her to take it. Two months living with her parents had been more than enough, and had given her a reminder of exactly why she'd been so desperate to leave the first time around.
She'd only worked nights, and she was more than happy with that. She couldn't sleep, she hadn't slept through the night since she'd been back, so it was easier to work flat out all night and then hope that by the time she got home she'd be so exhausted that she'd fall asleep without dreaming. Although, as she'd found out yesterday when she got home after her shift, that didn't always work. She'd laid there all day, and every time she closed her eyes it was like she was back in the clinic as they grabbed her all over again.
"Maybe it won't be quite as nuts as it was last night, then you might get to have a break and a nap?" Jess suggested.
Molly nodded reluctantly. She quite liked Jess, unlike the majority of the other people in the department she wasn't nosey, and hadn't tried to interrogate Molly about her personal life. The moment they'd all found out that she'd been working in Kenya, they'd all wanted to know if she knew the Doctor out there who'd been kidnapped. No, she'd answered, they hadn't ever crossed paths, and she'd disappeared off to find a patient before they could try and probe any further. If any of them ever found out the truth she'd have to leave, she couldn't deal with the way they'd all be looking at her.
"Right, let's get this started then. Who is first?" Molly asked, looking at the board in front of them. She could tell it already it was going to be a busy night, just from looking at the sheer volume of patients that were already waiting.
Jess tossed a set of notes onto the desk in front of her. "Cubicle one, possible broken arm."
"Okay." Molly nodded, flicking through the notes. She was relieved it was something nice and easy, to start with at least.
"Oh and just a heads up." Jess said, leaning in a little closer. "The parents are at each other's throats about who should've been watching him."
"Wonderful." Molly groaned. "Just what I need to start the shift."
"Enjoy." Jess laughed as Molly reluctantly walked off in the direction of the cubicle. She really wasn't in the mood to have to referee someone else's domestic. She'd spent enough time doing that with Belinda and Dave when she was growing up. Coupled with the fact that she was exhausted and she could feel a headache coming on, she would rather be anywhere other than there.
She could hear them arguing already as the approached the curtain, and she had to fight the temptation to turn around and walk away again. She'd actually rather spend the night looking after someone who'd had far too much to drink, like she had last night. Although, the moment when he'd thrown up down her had been far from pleasurable.
The voices behind the curtain dropped, although she could still hear them bickering in hushed tones, so she took the opportunity to walk in. Get it over and done with, that's what she was trying to tell herself. It was only 9pm, so the likelihood was her night was going to get a whole lots worse than this.
"Hi, I'm Molly, I'm one of the doctors here. You must be Sam?" She asked, pulling the curtain closed behind her and heading for the side of the bed.
"Molly?" She looked up at the sound of her name, to find the man who'd rescued her staring at her in confusion.
"You two know each other?" The snooty looking blonde woman who she assumed was his wife asked. She didn't look like she was happy about this.
"Not really." Molly interjected before he could say anything. "We met once, a long time ago. It's good to see you again. Now then Sam, can you tell me what happened to you?" She turned back to her work, trying to pretend he wasn't standing there watching her.
"Poor supervision from his father, that's what happened.." Molly cringed, waiting for another argument."He climbed up onto the kitchen counter trying to get something out of the cupboard, because someone wouldn't get off the sofa to get it for him, and he slipped and fell off."
"Is that right Sam?" Molly asked, watching as he nodded reluctantly. She saw his gaze wander to his parents, and from the look he gave them she imagined he'd been given quite the telling off before they'd turned on each other. "Have you hurt yourself anywhere else apart from your arm?" She asked, turning to get a pair of gloves from the box on the wall behind her. She briefly met Charles's eye as she looked up and forced herself to look back down at Sam.
He shook his head, looking back over at him Mum.
"Okay, that's great." Molly smiled. "I'm going to have a quick look at your arm and then we'll send you off to have an X-ray so we can have a look at the bones okay?"
She got another nod in reply. He didn't make a sound, even as she felt his arm- which was definitely broken. She didn't need an x-ray to tell her that. "I'm pretty sure it's broken, but we'll do the x-ray to confirm. I'll go and grab someone to take you down there okay?"
"Thank you." His Mum answered, as she pulled her gloves off and tossed them in the bin.
"I'll see you in a little while." Molly smiled, pulling the curtain back and disappearing as quickly as she could. It was like she was suffocating with him in there watching her.
"Molly wait!" He called, jogging to catch up with her as she walked back over to the nurses station. It had thrown him completely, seeing her walk in. She seemed so… well, normal. He wasn't sure what he'd pictured, he hadn't heard from her at all and neither had Georgie, but by the looks of things she'd got her life sorted and that was why.
She spun round to face him. "Can I help you Captain James?" She sighed.
"I just wanted to ask how you were, after everything you've been through. It can't be easy." He frowned.
"Let me stop you there." She stepped towards him, only so that she could whisper to avoid anyone overhearing the conversation. One thing she'd learned about his place very quickly was that gossip spread like wildfire. "What happened in Kenya, I can't go back and change it but it's done. I need to move on with my life and get myself sorted, the last thing I need is everyone I work with finding out what happened and them all asking about it."
"Sorry." His cheeks flushed and she felt bad. "I've been worried about you, that's all. So's Georgie, you never called either of us."
Molly shrugged, she looked over his shoulder and she could see Jess standing there staring at them. She was going to be getting interrogated about this later, that was for sure. "You don't have to look after me. You did your bit, you rescued me, and I'll be grateful for that forever, but you don't have to make sure I'm okay. It's not your job!"
"We were worried about you, it's not a crime." He attempted to joke but she didn't crack a smile.
"Well, worry over. As you can see I'm perfectly fine." She shrugged. She felt terrible, he was so nice, but she could barely look at him without feeling like she'd been transported back to Kenya all over again. It was making her feel sick.
"Can we get a coffee or something?" He asked. "Then we can talk properly?"
She shook her head. "I'm working, and you need to be with your son."
"It doesn't have to be now, maybe another day. I could meet you here or somewhere else?" He suggested.
"I don't know- I.." She was interrupted by someone shouting for help from one of the nearby cubicles. "I've got to go!" She called back over her shoulder, running around the corner to see what was going on, leaving him standing there on his own for a moment before he turned around and went back into the cubicle so Rebecca could finish her lecture on what a terrible parent he was.